I am in San Antonio for the winter getting some dental work done. So far I have gotten treatment for gum disease and they are better then they have been in years. I have two more appointments in February and I am looking towards finishing up by spring. The current plan is to finish up the periodontal work, pull my front teeth, and then have bone replacement surgery. Then I want implants! After all that, I plan to replace the metal fillings in all of my remaining teeth.

My current dentist seems to be willing to get me all the way through the bone replacement surgery. Beyond that, I will require another dentist in a different department, that will have to agree to the implants. I am not really confident with that. So I am beginning to look at other options.

If, I get the surgery done as planned, I will require between four to six months of healing, and time for new bone growth, before I can have the implants. At this point I am leaning towards getting the rest of the work I want done in Asia, most likely Thailand.

I will most likely take a military hop out of here to the San Francisco area. I will be exploring that wonderful city while getting visas for visiting China and Vietnam once I get to Asia. After that, not so sure. Most likely, from San Fran, I will catch a hop to Japan and from there a final hop to Singapore. It is also possible that I may go visit with a few old friends of mine that would like to see me prior to flying into Japan. At any rate, I will be gradually working my way towards Thailand over the I am healing. Once the work gets started in Thailand, and between appointments for finishing the work, I will be traveling to places like, Cambodia, China, and Vietnam.

It is my intention to spend two to three years in Asia and the Pacific. Along with Southeast Asia, I would like to travel to the Philippines, Australia, Japan, Okinawa, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific. I will be spending a lot of time in Hawaii, doing both helpxing and hopping in and out of there to some of these other destinations.

Over the last two years I have been traveling on about $35 a day with only two thirds of my monthly pension to live on. I spent more then two years in Europe and just finished spending six months in the United Kingdom. I have been limited in my spending the last 22 months. I have been paying $500 a month to the IRS for taxes and fees given to me for my early retirement, and with still another 12 payments to go. My reward for 35 years to my countries service. Sure wish I would have been a politician. Like them, I could have gotten something for doing nothing. Have I been annoyed by this? Yes! Angry? Some!. Hateful? No! Why? Because, I have mastered traveling on a “shoestring”. I have stayed with great host in some of Europe’s great cities, towns, or villages, and trough web sites, www.couchsurfing.com and www.hospitalityclub.org. I have meet so many wonderful people I have spent time at vineyards, farms, country inns and hostels, bed and breakfast with hosts on www.helpx.net, working for room and board, as a part of their families and their communities. I have no schedule to keep and when I get somewhere, I may spend weeks, sometime months before moving on. The things I see, and the people I meet are so different then those that I would have ever experienced by traveling more traditional ways. What’s more, I could do this for years!! I have also rediscovered how much fun it is being around young people, working with them out in the countryside when I am helpxing as well or sharing a dorm room with them in hostels when I am exploring a new city. I love the feeling of being lost in a new place, learning how to get around, learning its culture, its history and meeting its people. Just as well, I have learned to travel around this old world, all, while staying and feeling safe.

First thing first, I need to drop another 15 pounds between now and leaving the San Antonio area. Should be a “walk in the park”. This very same time last year I dropped 44 pounds in Jan-Feb, and a total of 52 pounds for all of last year. More importantly, I am no longer on blood pressure (30 years), or any other kinds of medications.

2009!! The year… I dropped out of the world of being “medicated!!” 2010!! Can’t wait to see what I do NEXT!!!